§2.16.1μενούσης ἀεὶ χιόνος ἀοίκητα τελέως ἐστίν.
...the snow remaining forever, it is completely uninhabitable.
τὸν δʼ Ἀπεννῖνον ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς ἀρχῆς τῆς ὑπὲρ Μασσαλίαν καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὰς Ἄλπεις συμπτώσεως Λιγυστῖνοι κατοικοῦσιν, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ Τυρρηνικὸν πέλαγος αὐτοῦ πλευρὰν κεκλιμένην καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ πεδία, §2.16.2παρὰ θάλατταν μὲν μέχρι πόλεως Πίσης, ἣ πρώτη κεῖται τῆς Τυρρηνίας ὡς πρὸς τὰς δυσμάς, κατὰ δὲ τὴν μεσόγαιον ἕως τῆς Ἀρρητίνων χώρας. §2.16.3ἑξῆς δὲ Τυρρηνοί· τούτοις δὲ συνεχεῖς ἑκάτερον τὸ κλίμα νέμονται τῶν προειρημένων ὀρῶν Ὄμβροι. §2.16.4λοιπὸν ὁ μὲν Ἀπεννῖνος ἀπέχων τῆς κατὰ τὸν Ἀδρίαν θαλάττης σταδίους ὡσανεὶ πεντακοσίους ἀπολείπει τὰ πεδία δεξιὸς ἀπονεύων, καὶ διὰ μέσης τῆς λοιπῆς Ἰταλίας διήκων εἰς τὸ Σικελικὸν κατατείνει πέλαγος. §2.16.5τὸ δʼ ἀπολειπόμενον μέρος πεδινὸν τῆς πλευρᾶς ἐπὶ θάλατταν καὶ πόλιν καθήκει Σήνην. §2.16.6ὁ δὲ Πάδος ποταμός, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν ποιητῶν Ἠριδανὸς θρυλούμενος, ἔχει μὲν τὰς πηγὰς ἀπὸ τῶν Ἄλπεων ὡς πρὸς τὴν κορυφὴν μᾶλλον τοῦ προειρημένου σχήματος, καταφέρεται δʼ εἰς τὰ πεδία, ποιούμενος τὴν ῥύσιν ὡς ἐπὶ μεσημβρίαν. §2.16.7ἀφικόμενος δʼ εἰς τοὺς ἐπιπέδους τόπους, ἐκκλίνας τῷ ῥεύματι πρὸς ἕω φέρεται διʼ αὐτῶν· ποιεῖ δὲ τὴν ἐκβολὴν δυσὶ στόμασιν εἰς τοὺς κατὰ τὸν Ἀδρίαν τόπους· τὸ δὲ πλεῖον ἀποτέμνεται μέρος τῆς πεδιάδος χώρας εἰς τὰς Ἄλπεις καὶ τὸν Ἀδριατικὸν μυχόν. §2.16.8ἄγει δὲ πλῆθος ὕδατος οὐδενὸς ἔλαττον τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν ποταμῶν διὰ τὸ τὰς ῥύσεις τὰς ἐπὶ τὰ πεδία νευούσας ἀπό τε τῶν Ἄλπεων καὶ τῶν Ἀπεννίνων ὀρῶν εἰς τοῦτον ἐμπίπτειν ἁπάσας καὶ πανταχόθεν. §2.16.9μεγίστῳ δὲ καὶ καλλίστῳ ῥεύματι φέρεται περὶ κυνὸς ἐπιτολήν, αὐξόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ἀνατηκομένων χιόνων ἐν τοῖς προειρημένοις ὄρεσιν. §2.16.10ἀναπλεῖται δʼ ἐκ θαλάττης κατὰ τὸ στόμα τὸ καλούμενον Ὄλανα σχεδὸν ἐπὶ δισχιλίους σταδίους. §2.16.11τὴν μὲν γὰρ πρώτην ἐκ τῶν πηγῶν ἔχει ῥύσιν ἁπλῆν, σχίζεται δʼ εἰς δύο μέρη κατὰ τοὺς προσαγορευομένους Τριγαβόλους· τούτων δὲ τὸ μὲν ἕτερον στόμα προσονομάζεται Παδόα, τὸ δʼ ἕτερον Ὄλανα. §2.16.12κεῖται δʼ ἐπὶ τούτῳ λιμήν, οὐδενὸς τῶν κατὰ τὸν Ἀδρίαν ἥττω παρεχόμενος ἀσφάλειαν τοῖς ἐν αὐτῷ καθορμιζομένοις.
As for the Apennine range, from its very beginning above Massalia and its junction with the Alps, the Ligurians inhabit it, both its slope inclined towards the Tyrrhenian Sea and that towards the plains, along the coast as far as the city of Pisa, which is the first city of Tyrrhenia situated towards the west, and in the interior as far as the territory of the Arretines. Next are the Tyrrhenians, and continuous with them, the Umbrians occupy both slopes of the aforementioned mountains. For the rest, the Apennines, at a distance of about five hundred stades from the Adriatic Sea, leave the plains, bending off to the right, and running through the middle of the rest of Italy, reach as far as the Sicilian Sea. The remaining flat part of the slope comes down to the sea and the city of Sena. The river Po, celebrated by the poets as Eridanus, has its source in the Alps, rather towards the apex of the aforementioned configuration, and is carried down into the plains, making its course towards the south. On reaching the level ground, it turns its stream towards the east and flows through it, discharging itself by two mouths into the districts of the Adriatic; the greater part of the plain country is cut off between the Alps and the innermost recess of the Adriatic. It carries a volume of water not less than any of the rivers in Italy, because all the streams sloping towards the plains from both the Alps and the Apennine mountains fall into it from all sides. It flows with its greatest and most beautiful stream about the rising of the Dog Star, being increased by the quantity of melting snows on the aforementioned mountains. It is navigable up from the sea by the mouth called Olana for nearly two thousand stades. For its first course from its sources is single, but it divides into two parts at the place called Trigaboli; of these, one mouth is called Padoa, and the other Olana. At this latter mouth there is a harbor, which offers to those who anchor in it a safety not inferior to any of those in the Adriatic.
παρά γε μὴν τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ὁ ποταμὸς προσαγορεύεται Βόδεγκος. §2.16.13τἄλλα δὲ τὰ περὶ τὸν ποταμὸν τοῦτον ἱστορούμενα παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι, λέγω δὴ τὰ περὶ Φαέθοντα καὶ τὴν ἐκείνου πτῶσιν, ἔτι δὲ τὰ δάκρυα τῶν αἰγείρων καὶ τοὺς μελανείμονας τοὺς περὶ τὸν ποταμὸν οἰκοῦντας, οὕς φασι τὰς ἐσθῆτας εἰσέτι νῦν φορεῖν τοιαύτας ἀπὸ τοῦ κατὰ Φαέθοντα πένθους, §2.16.14καὶ πᾶσαν δὴ τὴν τραγικὴν καὶ ταύτῃ προσεοικυῖαν ὕλην ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ παρόντος ὑπερθησόμεθα διὰ τὸ μὴ λίαν καθήκειν τῷ τῆς προκατασκευῆς γένει τὴν περὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἀκριβολογίαν. §2.16.15μεταλαβόντες δὲ καιρὸν ἁρμόττοντα ποιησόμεθα τὴν καθήκουσαν μνήμην, καὶ μάλιστα διὰ τὴν Τιμαίου περὶ τοὺς προειρημένους τόπους ἄγνοιαν.
By the natives indeed the river is called Bodencus. The other stories told about this river by the Greeks—I mean those about Phaethon and his fall, and further the tears of the poplars, and the black-clad people who dwell about the river, who they say still wear such garments from their mourning for Phaethon, and indeed all such tragic and similar material, we shall pass over for the present, because a detailed discussion of such things is not very suitable to the character of an introductory outline. But we shall make the proper mention when we find a suitable opportunity, especially because of Timaeus's ignorance concerning the aforementioned places.